If you – or someone you know – has ever had shingles, you’re acutely aware of just how painful the condition is. But, how much do you really know about it? Let’s take a few minutes to review what causes shingles, how shingles affect the body, and how chiropractic care can help.
First things first – what is shingles? Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which is the exact same virus that causes chickenpox. Once you’ve had chicken pox – even after you’ve recovered – the virus remains in your body, dormant. The virus lies within the nerve tissues surrounding your spinal cord and brain. Years later (typically decades later) the virus can reactivate as shingles.
So, how does shingles affect the body? Well, shingles is a viral infection that causes a very painful rash. And, although the rash can appear anywhere on the body, it tends to most often present as a stripe of blisters that wrap around one side of the torso, following the path of a nerve. When an individual experiences an outbreak, they will notice raised blisters on the skin and, even though this condition isn’t something that’s life-threatening, it is extremely painful – sometimes debilitatingly so.
Now, there’s probably a very good chance that you’ve never given shingles more than a passing thought – and probably only after seeing a commercial on TV. With that said, if you even wind up having to deal with shingles we can pretty much guarantee that they’ll be the ONLY thing on your mind (and that’s not a good thing!).
This is where chiropractic care comes into play. Since chiropractic care focuses on the spine and nervous system, it only makes sense that a chiropractor could help with the treatment of shingles. And, even better, seeing a chiropractor on a regular basis may even help you avoid the condition altogether. By keeping our immune system and nervous system healthy and working correctly there’s a chance that we can avoid having to suffer through a bout of shingles altogether. If you do wind up with an outbreak of shingles, your chiropractor can help alleviate some of the nerve pressure that is causing the shingles to appear.